The present invention relates to a top-contacting insertion socket for flat cable, and more particularly to an insertion socket having a top cover that could be upward turned to expose terminal cavities provided in the insertion socket for a flat cable to easily insert thereinto.
Soft flat cables are mainly used in integrated circuit boards to connect different circuits. For this purpose, there are many relatively small insertion sockets provided on the circuit boards for flat cables to insert thereinto. To enable effective contact with bare ends of the flat cable, the insertion socket is normally designed in two ways, namely, a bottom-contacting type as shown in FIG. 1, and a top contacting type as shown in FIG. 2.
Please refer to FIG. 1. The flat cable 10 has a bare side 11 provided at a lower side thereof to contact with contacts 22 provided on terminals 21 located in the insertion socket 20. Thus, the insertion socket 20 is a bottom-contacting insertion socket. And, in FIG. 2, the flat cable 10 has a bare side 12 provided at an upper side thereof to contact with contacts 32 provided on terminals 31 located in the insertion socket 30. Thus, the insertion socket 30 is a top-contacting insertion socket.
The bottom-contacting insertion socket 20 includes a cover 23 for compressing the flat cable 10 against the terminals 21 in the insertion socket 20. The cover 23 is located at a top of the bottom-contacting insertion socket 20 and could be easily opened to expose terminal cavities 24 in the insertion socket 20 to facilitate easy insertion of the flat cable 10 into the terminal cavities 24.
On the other hand, the top-contacting insertion socket 30 includes a cover 33 having a tongue portion 34 for inserting into the insertion socket 30 to compress the flat cable 10 against the terminals 31 in the insertion socket 30. Since the cover 33 is located near a bottom of the top-contacting insertion socket 30 to abut on the circuit board 40 and could not be fully opened, an operator is not able to see the terminal cavities 35 in the insertion socket 30. Moreover, since the cover 33 could not be fully opened, it presses the terminals 31 to cause frictional contact of the terminals 31 with the flat cable 10 when the latter is inserted into the insertion socket 30. Therefore, it is possible that the flat cable 10 is not fully inserted into the insertion socket 30 due to a resistance from such frictional contact. That is, it is more difficult to properly insert the flat cable 10 into the insertion socket 30.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a top-contacting insertion socket for flat cable having a top cover that could be upward turned to expose terminal cavities in the insertion socket to facilitate easy and proper insertion of a flat cable into the insertion socket.
In the top-contacting insertion socket for flat cable according to the present invention, a space is left between an inner top surface of a main body of the insertion socket and internal connecting pins of terminals in the insertion socket for a tongue portion of the top cover to insert thereinto, so that the tongue portion presses the internal connecting pins below it against a bare upper side of the flat cable to provide good electrical contact thereat.
Each of the internal connecting pins of the terminals in the top-contacting insertion socket of the present invention may be provided at a lower side with more than two barbs to provide increased number of pressing points against the flat cable and accordingly enhanced electrical performance and reliability.